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Nintendo wins court battle over sale of DS emulation devices
Nintendo sues the makers of DS flash carts.
TOKYO —
The Tokyo District Court on Friday issued an order banning the import and sale by five companies of electronic devices that enable illegally copied software to be used on Nintendo DS handheld game consoles. Judge Masami Ichikawa, who acted on a suit filed by Kyoto-based Nintendo Co and 54 other game software houses, ruled that the import and sale of DS emulation devices, called Magicom (magic computer), runs counter to the unfair competition prevention law as they cancel out the consoles’ copy protection system.

The three-judge panel found that the plaintiffs have suffered business losses by the import and sale of such DS emulation devices which enable users to download and play large quantities of illegally copied game software available over the Internet. The Magicom electronic device deposits illegally copied software into a storage device, such as flash memory. The software can then be used on a Nintendo game console after the storage device is connected to the console.

The defendants had argued that the emulation devices fall outside the scope of regulations under the unfair competition prevention law because they help users play not only copied but also homemade software

The defendants had argued that the emulation devices fall outside the scope of regulations under the unfair competition prevention law because they help users play not only copied but also homemade software

The 'homebrew' argument is ridiculous. If people only wanted to play with 'homebrew', flashcarts wouldn't be able to play copied games. We'd have 'homebrew carts' instead. The fact is, 'homebrew' is a nice side benefit IN ADDITION to being able to play copied games. It isn't the main reason these carts are created, and everyone knows that.

If Nintendo wins court battles, good on them. They're allowed to protect their copyrights.

:S instead of sue-ing (i have no idea if this is spelled right) they should be gratefull !! do they really think that without flashcards there would be sold so many ds :S
it is their own fault anyways... they make everything way to expensive (again... spelled right ?)

There is one thing flashcarts do for ninty, and that is sell DS's. their prices on the consoles are reasonable but their games are exorbiantly priced, which is their fault.

people buy flashcarts to get free video games, but of course, they also buy the handhelds to play them. if they cannot pirate, then they will forget about playing DS games altogether and DS slaes will drop considerably.

Yes, but you forget that you don't necessarily have to buy a DS handheld in order to play DS games. You can just use an emulator for that. Want it portable? Use it on a laptop. It may not be as convenient as the actual thing nor does it work with every game, at least you get to play them without having to spend a penny.

If you ask me, I support Nintendo's decision on protecting their stuff from piracy and outlawing flashcarts. Sure, I also pirate their stuff, which is ironic, I know, but at least I still buy their games (Including games I've already downloaded) in every chance I get. Their games may be expensive, but hey, at least it'll help their budgets for future projects. I'd rather see a company continue making games (Even if they're crappy) than to see it go down and lose such great classics like Mario and whatnot.

Yes, but you forget that you don't necessarily have to buy a DS handheld in order to play DS games. You can just use an emulator for that. Want it portable? Use it on a laptop. It may not be as convenient as the actual thing nor does it work with every game, at least you get to play them without having to spend a penny.

If you ask me, I support Nintendo's decision on protecting their stuff from piracy and outlawing flashcarts. Sure, I also pirate their stuff, which is ironic, I know, but at least I still buy their games (Including games I've already downloaded) in every chance I get. Their games may be expensive, but hey, at least it'll help their budgets for future projects. I'd rather see a company continue making games (Even if they're crappy) than to see it go down and lose such great classics like Mario and whatnot.

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Well yeah, I buy their games too (hell I encouraged my brotehr to buy Platinum)

all in all, it's simply a mater of legality. the profitability of these things either way is too complicated to really decide without disputing the legal jurisdiction.

I support Nintendo all the way. They have a right to defend what is theirs.....................but of course, this will possibly see a rise in prices when they win.

As mentioned, there's always Homebrew carts.
If a cart is released that only allows Homebrew, but doesn't natively support the running of Backups, I doubt Nintendo can go after them. All that's needed then is a homebrew ap for running backups.

Nintendo should have done what Sony's doing, letting the Piracy-creators beef up the security of the next system.

as far as im concerned if nintendo lowered the prices on either there systems or the games they wouldnt have this problem

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That's not necessarily true. No matter how much digital contents costs, people will always try to get it for free. I've known people who wouldn't even pay $5 for things they've pirated, simply because they want it for free.

(lilkerv90210 @ Mar 2 2009, 12:33 PM)
as far as im concerned if nintendo lowered the prices on either there systems or the games they wouldnt have this problem

QUOTEThat's not necessarily true. No matter how much digital contents costs, people will always try to get it for free. I've known people who wouldn't even pay $5 for things they've pirated, simply because they want it for free.

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in that case your friends are super cheap lol..even if nintendo wins people will just find another way around them